A protest in support of Meconse, a respected aboriginal elder and war veteran, was held at the mall Wednesday evening where dozens came out. Meconse claims he was kicked out of the downtown mall for loitering when he was actually finishing a meal in the food court.

“On behalf of Portage Place, we wanted to extend our most sincere apologies to Mr. Joe Meconse, a respected Aboriginal Elder and a decorated veteran who has proudly served our country,” David Stone, General Manager of the Portage Place Shopping Centre, said in an emailed media statement.

Stone went on to say the security personnel were following a policy that requires anyone who hasn’t purchased anything within 30 minutes to exit the food court. A policy the mall will now be removing.

“Given that our many members of our community use our food court as a place to meet friends, this is a policy we are now removing.”